HIGHLIGHTS-Tennis-U.S. Open day eight

Highlights of the eighth day at the U.S. Open, the final Grand Slam tournament of the year, on Monday (times GMT):

2200 MERCILESS MERTENS CRUSHES AHN IN STRAIGHT SETS

Belgium's Elise Mertens, the 25th seed, ended unseeded American Kristie Ahn's dream run at Flushing Meadows to reach the U.S. Open quarter-finals for the first time. Mertens, who won 6-1 6-1, hit 16 winners and made 10 fewer unforced errors than her opponent's 25 as she wrapped up the one-sided contest in 66 minutes.

2120 ZVEREV COMES UP SHORT AGAINST SCHWARTZMAN

Argentina's Diego Schwartzman beat sixth seed Alexander Zverev 3-6 6-2 6-4 6-3 to reach the U.S. Open quarter-finals for the second time in the 20th seed's career.

Germany's Zverev, who has never made the second week at Flushing Meadows, served 11 aces but paid the price for 17 double faults and 65 unforced errors in the three-hour tussle.

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BERRETTINI BEATS RUBLEV IN THREE SETS

Italy's Matteo Berrettini, the number 24 seed, beat Russia's Andrey Rublev 6-1 6-4 7-6(6) to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final. Berrettini carved out 10 break point chances against Rublev's serve, converting four, and hit 37 winners and seven aces as he wrapped up the match in two hours, 11 minutes.

1755 VEKIC FIGHTS BACK TO DISPATCH GOERGES

Croatia's Donna Vekic fought back from a set down to beat Germany's Julia Goerges 6-7(5) 7-5 6-3 to advance to her first Grand Slam quarter-final.

Although Goerges fired 21 aces to Vekic's three, she was only able to convert two break points. The Croatian also saved two match points in the second set before storming back into the contest.

1743 DEFENDING CHAMPION OSAKA KNOCKED OUT

Defending U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka was knocked out 7-5 6-4 by Belinda Bencic, who won in 86 minutes to beat the defending champion for the third time this year and reach her second U.S. Open quarter-final. Osaka, who asked for the physio midway through the match to assess a troublesome knee, was able to break Bencic only once in the match while the Swiss converted three break points and won every point whenever she approached the net (nine points).

"I was so excited to come on the court, the challenge could not be bigger so I had to be on top of my game, I'm really pleased with how I played and how I managed my nerves in the end," Bencic said.

1510 PLAY UNDERWAY IN RAINY NEW YORK

Play began on Monday in rainy conditions with the temperature hovering around 23 degrees Celsius (73.4°F) and a forecast high of 25C. (